JP3312512B2 - Automatic guided vehicle system - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic guided vehicle system. In particular, the present invention relates to an automatic guided vehicle system that enables highly reliable autonomous traveling.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing a conventional automatic guided vehicle system.

In FIG. 1, 1 is a host computer,
Reference numeral 2 denotes a wireless communication device connected to the host computer 1, reference numeral 3 denotes a graphic terminal, reference numeral 4 denotes an automatic guided vehicle having a laser light emitting and receiving device 4a, and reference numerals 5a to 5e denote reflectors such as reflection tapes.

The travel map of the automatic guided vehicle 4 is created by auto cad and stored in the host computer 1, and is also stored in the controller 4 b of the automatic guided vehicle 4 via the wireless communication device 2.

[0005] The laser light emitting and receiving device 4a emits a laser beam around the automatic guided vehicle, and the reflectors 5a to 5e.
, And receives the reflected light that is reflected back. The controller 4b of the automatic guided vehicle 4 performs triangulation using the laser light emitting and receiving device 4a to calculate an accurate current position of the automatic guided vehicle 4.

The automatic guided vehicle 4 is equipped with an encoder 4c for detecting travel information of the automatic guided vehicle 4, and the automatic guided vehicle 4 travels based on the travel information of the encoder 4c.

[0007] The controller 4b of the automatic guided vehicle 4 determines whether there is an error between the position of the automatic guided vehicle 4 calculated based on triangulation and the position of the automatic guided vehicle 4 obtained from the traveling information of the encoder 4c. If there is an error, the travel information of the encoder 4c is corrected, and the position of the automatic guided vehicle 4 is corrected.

[0008]

The above-described automatic guided vehicle system has the following problems.

As shown in FIG. 6, when there is a stacked load W1 that blocks the laser beam X between the laser light emitting and receiving device 4a of the automatic guided vehicle 4 and the reflector 5a, accurate surveying is performed. As a result, even if the automatic guided vehicle 4 has been displaced, it cannot be detected.

For this reason, there has been a problem that the reliability of autonomous traveling is not always good.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems and to provide an automatic guided vehicle system capable of realizing highly reliable autonomous traveling.

[0012]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has the above-mentioned object.
In order to achieve, a guiding area using a laser beam,
A first guidance unit having a guidance area using a guide line and guiding the carrier by using a laser beam; and a second guidance unit guiding the carrier by using a guidance line. And the laser beam
Depending on the guidance area used and the guidance area using the guidance line
Te, the running map of the transport vehicle and therefore automatically, before
Either the first guiding means or the second guiding means
Automatic guided vehicle system so that
It is composed.

[0013]

[0014]

[0015]

According to the automatic guided vehicle system of the first aspect, the first guiding means for guiding the vehicle by using a laser beam, and the first guiding means for guiding the vehicle by using a guiding line. And a second guiding means .
Guidance by the first guidance means and guidance by the second guidance means
Is automatically selected according to the traveling map of the carrier.
A possible automated guided vehicle system that uses laser beams
Running that cannot be guided by the first guiding means
When entering the lane, the second invitation using a guidance line
Since guiding means is selected, for example, a first induction means utilizing a laser beam is utilizing a second inductive means other when the laser beam of the optical axis enters the travel gamut so that blocked by an obstacle or the like An automatic guided vehicle can be guided.

Therefore, highly reliable autonomous traveling of the unmanned traveling vehicle can be realized.

[0017]

[0018]

[0019]

[0020]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of a warehouse for explaining an automatic guided vehicle system according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the automatic guided vehicle used in the automatic guided vehicle system as viewed from the front side, and FIG. It is the perspective view seen from the side.

In these drawings, the automatic guided vehicle system according to the present embodiment includes a first guiding means for guiding a carrier using a laser beam and a second guiding means for guiding a carrier using a guide line. and a combination of the means. In the system shown in FIG. 1, a guiding area A1 (portion surrounded by a dotted line) using a laser beam is provided in a building B surrounded by a solid line, and the guiding area is overlapped with the guiding area A1. An induction area A2 (a portion surrounded by a dashed line) utilizing the number 30 is provided.

The first guiding means using a laser beam has the same configuration as that described in the conventional example.
It has the same effect. That is, triangulation is performed by the laser light emitting / receiving device 4a, and the controller 4b of the automatic guided vehicle 4 obtains the automatic guided vehicle obtained from the position of the automatic guided vehicle 4 calculated based on the triangulation and the traveling information of the encoder 4c. 4 to determine whether there is an error with the position of the encoder 4. If there is an error, the encoder 4c
Is corrected, and the position of the automatic guided vehicle 4 is corrected.

A laser light emitting / receiving device 4a is mounted on an upper frame 11 erected on the automatic guided vehicle 4 (see FIGS. 2 and 3).

As the laser projection / reception device 4a, for example, a device which is regarded as an "intrinsically safe device", which corresponds to class 1 of the USA laser standard (FDA), is used.

Also, the laser beam transmitting / receiving device 4a is positioned above the upper frame 1 so as to be higher than the operator's eyes.
1 so that the worker does not look directly into the laser beam. Further, the laser light emitting and receiving device 4a is set to 6 rotations per second,
Even if the worker mistakenly looks directly at the laser beam,
Continuous direct viewing of the laser beam is avoided. In addition, a safety device for immediately stopping the projection of the laser beam is incorporated in consideration of the case where the rotation of the laser beam receiving / receiving device 4a is stopped for some reason.

The reflectors 5a to 5f are attached at predetermined positions on the wall surface of the building B.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 40 denotes a radio antenna, 41 denotes a speaker, 42 denotes an emergency stop button, 43 denotes a warning lamp, 44 denotes an operation panel, 45 denotes an obstacle sensor, and 46 denotes a bumper. 47 is an obstacle sensor controller, and 48 is an emergency stop button provided on the rear side.

The second guide means includes a guide line 30 laid on the floor surface and a detector 50 provided on the automatic guided vehicle 4 for detecting the guide line 30. 3
The automatic guided vehicle 4 is guided while detecting 0.
The guidance is controlled by the control unit of the automatic guided vehicle 4 based on destination command data sent from the host computer 1 via the wireless communication device 2.

An optical system, a magnetic system, an electromagnetic system, and the like can be adopted as the guiding system using the guiding wire 30 and the detector 50.

The optical system uses a reflective tape such as a resin tape or a stainless steel tape as the guide wire 30 and an optical sensor as the detector 50, and detects light irradiated toward the reflective tape with the optical sensor. While guiding.

In the magnetic system, a magnetic tape such as a magnet tape is used as the guide wire 30 and a magnetic sensor is used as the detector 50, and the magnetic tape is guided while detecting the magnetism of the magnetic tape with the magnetic sensor. .

In the electromagnetic system, a conductor is used as the guide wire 30 and a pickup coil is used as the detector 50. An electric current flows through the conductor installed in the floor or on the floor, and a low current generated around the conductor is generated. The magnetic field of the frequency current is induced while being detected by the pickup coil.

When the above-mentioned optical system and magnetic system are employed, route setting can be performed simply by sticking a tape, so that cost and labor can be reduced. The advantage is that it can be easily performed.

In the case where the electromagnetic system is adopted, there is obtained an advantage that the guide wire is not damaged by the heavy-duty automatic guided vehicle, and the detection failure does not occur due to the influence of dirt on the floor surface.

The automatic guided vehicle 4 according to the present embodiment can travel using both the first guidance means and the second guidance means as described above, and can travel either depending on the travel area. The configuration is such that only one guiding means can be selected.

That is, as shown in FIG. 4, in the case of a layout in which the optical axis of the laser beam between the reflector 5a and the luggage group W1 stacked in a plurality of stages is blocked, the first guiding means is used. When the automatic guided vehicle 4 enters the traveling area A2 where the automatic guided vehicle cannot travel, the second guiding means using the guide line 30 is selected and the automatic guided vehicle 4 can be programmed to be guided.

The setting of the guidance means is performed by the host computer 1
Can be performed for each predetermined point (not shown) on the map. This data set by the host computer 1 is stored in the host computer 1 and sent to the automatic guided vehicle 4 via the wireless communication device 2 and stored. The automatic guided vehicle 4 travels by automatically selecting the first and second guidance means based on this setting.

When the projection of the laser beam is insufficient or the amount of received light is insufficient, or when the optical axis of the laser beam is blocked and the reflected light is not received as shown in FIG. It is also possible to automatically switch the setting to the guidance means.

According to the automatic guided vehicle system of this embodiment described above, the first guiding means for guiding the vehicle by using the laser beam, and the first guiding means for guiding the vehicle by using the guiding line. Since the configuration includes both the two guiding means, the automatic guided vehicle 4 can travel using both the guiding means. Thus, even if one of the guiding means, for example, the first guiding means using a laser beam is not functioning because the optical axis of the laser beam is blocked by an obstacle or the like, the other guiding means is used by using the other second guiding means. The automatic guided vehicle 4 can be guided.

Therefore, highly reliable autonomous traveling of the unmanned traveling vehicle 4 can be realized.

Further, since the guide by the first guide means and the guide by the second guide means can be selected, the optimum guide means can be selected according to the traveling area of the automatic guided vehicle 4. .

Therefore, it is possible to eliminate waste in which both guidance means are operated at the same time, and to realize highly reliable autonomous traveling by saving power of a battery (not shown) mounted on the automatic guided vehicle 4. .

Further, the guidance by the first guidance means and the second
Is automatically selected in accordance with the travel map of the transport vehicle 4, so that the operator does not need to perform each operation to select the guidance means. Improvement can be achieved.

As described above, one embodiment of the present invention has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be appropriately modified within the scope of the present invention.

[0046]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view for explaining one embodiment of an automatic guided vehicle system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front perspective view of the automatic guided vehicle used in the automatic guided vehicle system.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the same seen from the back side.

FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view of a building.

FIG. 5 is a conventional system diagram.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view of the same.

[Explanation of symbols]

 4 Automatic guided vehicle 4a Laser light emitting and receiving device 4b Controller 30 Guidance line 50 Detector

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI G01C 15/00 G01C 15/00 L

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A guide region using a laser beam, and a guide line.
And a first guiding means for guiding the transport vehicle by using a laser beam, and a second guiding means for guiding the transport vehicle by using a guide line. Using the laser beam
Induction zone and in response to the induction area and using the guide wire, thus automatically traveling map of the transport vehicle, the first
Of either one of the guiding means and the second guiding means
An automatic guided vehicle system characterized in that means can be selected .